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You Can’t Manage What You Can’t Measure by Gary Johnson, MBA

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Would you be surprised if I told you more than 97 percent of the dentists and orthodontists I talk with around the U.S. cannot tell me how many prospective patients called or walked into their offices inquiring about services last month? How do you feel about that? Do you think that is a risky way to run a business? I do. Many of the practices I speak with are looking for creative ways to attract new patients and most are shocked when I tell them they have prospective patients they have interacted with at their offices every day who could have become patients without having to spend another dime on marketing.

As an MBA student I was taught that it is impossible to manage what you cannot measure. In orthodontics, we all know in order to provide great treatment results we must have accurate measurements before, during and after treatment. Yet most doctors don't do the same kind of measurements when managing their practices' results.

If I was a consultant for hire and you asked me to help increase your patient starts, the first thing I would ask you is how many people either called into your office or walked into your office last month inquiring about service. Keep in mind, as I mentioned earlier, most doctors cannot tell me that number. Therefore, as your consultant, I would ask you to track it. When doing so, you should tell your front desk person you want to track this data and be sure you define what qualifies as a call or walk-in. A caller for example, asking if you take his or her insurance qualifies as a call. A caller asking if you offer Invisalign qualifies as a call, etc. Once you have established what is going to be measured, you must ask, every day for at least two weeks, for that number in order for the team to form a habit of collecting the data. After 30 days, I would ask you to share the data your team collected. Let's say, for argument's sake, 17 people called or walked in inquiring about your services. I would ask you, of those 17, how many actually scheduled appointments? Let's say the answer is eight. I would ask, how many of those eight patients actually kept their appointments? Let's say that four of them actually came in. Finally, I would ask, how many of those four appointments became new patients? In this example, let's say the answer is two. So it breaks down like this:

Call-in or walk-ins:
17
Number of appointments:
8
Number of appointments kept:
4
Number of new patients: 2

Looking at those numbers, what can you see? Do you see a need for better probing on the initial call? Maybe some changes in your processes to improve your "appointment kept" ratio? What about new patient starts? Is 50 percent a number you feel good about? After analyzing the numbers, you can then train to improve each area described. After training was completed I would come back and look at the next 30 days of data. For this example let's argue that the number of walk-ins or call-ins was exactly the same at 17. However, your training improved your "appointments made" from eight to 12. Your training on ideas used to boost "appointments kept" improved that number from four to eight. Finally, your focus on "wowing the patient" during all phases of the first encounter improved your "patient starts" from two out of four, to six out of eight. So without increasing your marketing, you increased "patient starts" from two to six based on your ability to measure your results. It would look like this:

Call-in or walk-ins:
17
Number of appointments:
12
Number of appointments kept:
8
Number of new patients: 6

My point is that what is watched improves. How can you possibly improve some aspect of your practice if you do not first measure it? If you do one thing differently as a result of reading this article it should be to routinely measure key components of your business. After you have determined what facets of your practice need to be analyzed, put systems and training in place to provide you and your team with the results you deserve!

Author's Bio
Gary Johnson, executive vice president of DynaFlex, has more than 20 years experience in business management and leadership, and currently holds two MBAs. For the past three years, he has managed and directed the entire sales and marketing effort at DynaFlex in domestic and international markets. Mr. Johnson regularly consults with practices throughout the United States on leadership, marketing and creating the ultimate patient experience.
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October 2025
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